Introduction -- "Initial Book": This is a book on what happened before Nobunaga's march on Kyoto. Ota Izumi composed this -- Book I. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. And it records the life of Lord Oda Danjo no Jo Nobunaga from Eiroku 11 [1568], the Year of the Dragon -- Book II. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Eiroku 12 [1569], the Year of Earth Junior and the Serpent -- Book III. Ota Izumi composed this. Genki 1 [1570], the Year of Metal Senior and the Horse -- Book IV. Ota Izumi composed this. Genki 2 [1571], the Year of Metal Junior and the Sheep -- Book V. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Genki 3 [1572], the Year of Water Senior and the Monkey -- Book VI. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Genki 4 [1573], the Year of Water Junior and the Bird -- Book VII. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 2 [1574], the Year of Wood Senior and the Dog -- Book VIII. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 3 [1575], the Year of Wood Junior and the Boar -- Book IX. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 4 [1576], the Year of Fire Senior and the Rat -- Book X. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 5 [1577], the Year of Fire Junior and the Ox -- Book XI. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 6 [1578], the Year of Earth Senior and the Tiger -- Book XII. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 7 [1579], the Year of Earth Junior and the Rabbit -- Book XIII. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 8 [1580], the Year of Metal Senior and the Dragon -- Book XIV. Ota Izumi no Kami produced this. Tensho 9 [1581], the Year of Metal Junior and the Serpent -- Book XV. Ota Izumi no Kami composed this. Tensho 10 [1582], the Year of Water Senior and the Horse -- Index
Shincho-Ko ki, the work translated here into English under the title "The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga," is the most important source on the career of one of the best known figures in all of Japanese history--Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), the first of the "Three Heroes" who unified Japan after a century of fragmentation and internecine bloodshed. The other two of the triad, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), also make frequent appearances in this chronicle, playing prominent although clearly subordinate roles. So the chronicle also is an important source on their early careers, as it is on a constellation of other actors in Japan's sixteenth-century drama. The chronicle's author, Ota Gyuichi, was Nobunaga's former retainer and an eyewitness of some of the events he describes. He completed his work about the year 1610
